"It’s amazing how many Australians wouldn’t be able to tell you how our government system works, what the main points of our Constitution are or what role the Queen plays in our society, but 11 Toowoomba students now have all the answers." reports Toowoomba's Mail on 26 July 2012 (A Political Lesson).
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The students participated in the annual Toowoomba Regional Constitutional Essay Competition, designed to get kids thinking about how the country works so they are better informed when they reach voting age. This year’s winners are Daniel Ferguson and Ethnee Furness.
The competition is run by the Toowoomba branch of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and Chairman John Brett said it came about after the 1999 referendum.
“Bach when the referendum was carried out there were numerous surveys and questionnaires that showed only 18% of Australians even knew we had a constitution and even less knew what it was for”, he said.
“We knew that if this educational gap wasn’t filled, time would erase it and nobody would be there to defend our constitution.”